Bali in a Nutshell...

I just got back from a little vacation in Bali. It is really an incredibly beautiful place and unique in Indonesia because it's the only island in the archipelago where the majority of the population is Hindu (95% of Balinese) It was such a different world from where I am...it was interesting to see how stongly the majority religion influences the culture and lifestyle. I only spent 10 days there, but I could have easily spent a month traveling around...lots of places to see and things to do.

We got to see some of the countryside on a mountain biking tour. This is a terraced rice field we passed on our way...

Women taking offerings to the temple:

We also stopped at an organic farm in the mountains. Friendly gentleman roasting coffee:

Cocoa, light of my life, fire of my loins! Our guide lets us try some raw beans picked fresh from the tree:

Sunrise on top of a live volcano (Mt.Batur). We were cursing ourselves during the 4 a.m. hike to the top, but it was definitely worth it in the end......check out that sunrise!

Steam leaking up from the ground on the way back down the volcano:

Mother and child at a monkey sanctuary:

Monkey rules:

I ran into some friends who I worked with in Japan...here Blair shows the inspiration for his hairstyle:

Heather and Blair get serenaded by a drag queen in Seminyak (Blair obviously still in high spirits from his own private lap dance moments before...)

Engaging in less ambitious pursuits in Ubud:

Blessings from Tanah Lot, a Hindu temple:

Sunset at Tanah Lot

Open Letter to the Middle-Aged Woman at the Supermarket

Dear Madam,

I respectfully ask that you please stop following me around the supermarket. I fully understand that the opportunity to observe an actual white person in the wild is rare indeed, and I do admire your tenacity given the various tacitcal manoeuvers I have made in an attempt to disengage you over the course of the last 10 minutes. However you might be able to extrapolate, from the scowl on my face and my resistance to making eye contact with you, that today I am in no mood to facilitate cross-cultural understanding here in the instant noodle aisle. Any other day would find me more than willing to enter into thoughtful discourse regarding my striking similarity to Barbie, but this morning I have already: thwarted an attempted kidnapping via public transportation by jumping out of a moving vehicle, almost been hit by a large, swerving construction vehicle whose driver wanted to convey his enlightening message at close range ("Hey mister! Where you going?"), gotten a razor sharp piece of coconut shell lodged in the bottom of my flip-flop, and harassed by a moto driver who felt compelled to ride next to me for half a kilometer "practicing English."

I wholeheartedly hope that you are not left with a negative impression of my people. We are generally a happy-go-lucky, friendly sort who delight in and encourage foreigners to repeatedly ask questions such as "Why aren't you married yet?" and "Don't you ever want to get married?" And I will make this solemn promise to you, dear Middle-Aged Woman at the Supermarket, that I will be open for any and all questioning during my next visit. As you can see, since we are now at the check-out counter and you are standing close enough behind me that I can feel your breath on the back of my neck, I am indeed buying bread. May you take solace in this small token of stereotype confirmation, and may you take your newfound knowledge back to family and friends (along with the secret picture you took of me on your cell phone), and may you always look back in fond remembrance of today, the day you saw the white girl in the supermarket.

Sincerely,
MKM

simple pleasures

I came home from work yesterday and what did I find? My wonderful cleaning lady, Andra, had picked a fresh papaya from a tree in my backyard, cut it up, and artfully arranged it on plate for me (yes, I have a cleaning lady. It's very normal to have house help lest you think I've gone all bourgeois since coming here. Fear not, I shall stay unchanged and remain true to my bohemian ways!) Seismic upheaval be damned! The cornucopia of tropical fruit that surrounds me is worth the risk...